“I just stabbed myself and killed my two children,” Brandi Worley, 30, told a 911 operator early Thursday, according to Montgomery County Sheriff Mark Casteel.

Emergency responders found her 7-year-old son, Tyler Worley, and her 3-year-old daughter, Charlee Worley, dead in one of the children’s bedrooms at about 4:35 a.m.

Brandi Worley’s husband and the father of the children was asleep in the basement of the Darlington home at the time of the killings and was unaware of what was happening upstairs, Casteel told reporters.

“I can’t imagine the pain and the grief these families are experiencing this morning,” Casteel said, pausing for a long time as he fought to hold back tears. “Please keep these families in your thoughts and prayers.”